Editor

The class members in the Gladstone Fisheries class action and their funder LCM Operations have successfully upheld in the Court of Appeal a declaration confirming the enforceability of the funding agreements in the case. This is an important decision, which validates the third party funding of class actions and puts to bed any residual arguments regarding the continuing effect of the medieval torts of maintenance and champerty on class action funding arrangements, says Susanna Taylor, LCM's head of investment, APAC.

Will we see an increase in class actions and funded litigation following the COVID-19 financial crisis similar to that following the global financial crisis? If there is an onslaught of corporate failures, including failed managed investment schemes, then such litigation seems likely to ensue. However, in the last year, Parliament and the courts have taken steps which might slow such litigious activity, says Susan Goodman of Holding Redlich.

A sense of frustration with current uncertainty in the caselaw and inconsistency in the approaches of judges was a prominent theme that emerged from personal interviews with 30 experienced class action practitioners conducted over two months by Dr Peter Cashman and Amelia Simpson of the University of New South Wales.

As the economic impact of Covid-19 continues to develop, we can expect promoters of class actions to explore claims which arise from the pandemic – some of these will be in familiar territory, whilst other claim may be novel, say Herbert Smith Freehills' Harry Edwards and Dylan O'Keefe.

Recent changes in the Australian regulation of third-party funders will have a dramatic effect on the funding of certain disputes. Although these changes were accompanied by Government and industry commentary that they would not affect litigation funding for insolvency-related claims, this may not be the case for all insolvency funding arrangements, writes Lina Kolomoitseva of funder Litigation Capital Management.

The public hearings before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services as part of an inquiry into litigation funding and regulation of the class action industry proved to be polarised and, at times, hostile and adversarial in tone. But the inquiry has proven to be a useful and insightful process and questioning by the Committee served to unearth not only relevant factual information and important empirical data but also touched on the commercial and financial interests of those on both sides of the debate. 

It is entirely possible that the first effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is developed in Australia, with an Australian firm securing patent rights to the vaccine. If that occurs, it is important to remember that a patent is not an impenetrable fortress. Patent laws already contain mechanisms to enable "special access" to patented pharmaceuticals and other technologies, including (perhaps especially) in times like this, say James Neil and Richard Hoad of Clayton Utz.

The shocking revelations about the complaints of sexual harassment of young female associates working for Justice Dyson Heydon in his years on the High Court have prompted many reactions and a collective sharing by women across the profession about their own personal experiences. These stories have been incredibly powerful and are a clear call to arms for significant and lasting change. Chief Justice Susan Kiefel set the tone by committing to the adoption of all recommendations of the investigator, but the reforms should not stop there, says Professor Andrew Lynch, the Head of School and Deputy Dean at UNSW Law.

Much of the criticism of the ligitaion funding industry being played out in the media recently is based on misinformation, says Andrew Saker of Omni Bridgeway.

The details of a sex harassment lawsuit brought against entrepreneur Sir Owen Glenn by a former executive assistant employed with his philanthropic foundation have been kept under wraps by a judge, who said allowing public access to the statement of claim in the case could undermine the parties' settlement.